NOT GONE – BUT NOT AS STRONG
NOT GONE – BUT NOT AS STRONG

Summary/Abstract: The author reviews the evolution of al-Qaeda, especially over recent years, writing that over the 24 years since the formation of al-Qaeda, four phases can be distinguished. Each helps us in different ways to understand the nature of the threat from radical Sunni Islamic extremism today, particularly when it comes to so-called homegrown terrorism. By 2003 or 2004, new security arrangements made it impossible to insert large groups of foreign operatives in target countries. The vanguard was replaced by the “network of networks”. For several years, there have been an increasing number of so-called “lone wolf” attackers, inspired by but in no way linked to al-Qaeda. Significant though the death of bin Laden himself was, analysts largely agree that the al-Qaeda core leadership had been getting weaker for some time before the death of their leader.

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